For several years, active magnetic bearings (AMB) have demonstrated their capabilities in many fields, from industrial compressors to control wheel suspension for spacecraft. Despite this broad area, no significant advance has been observed in rocket propulsion turbomachinery, where size, efficiency, and cost are crucial design criteria. To this respect, Societe Europeenne de Propulsion (SEP) had funded for several years significant efforts to delineate the advantages and drawbacks of AMB applied to rocket propulsion systems. Objectives of this work, relative technological basis, and improvements are described and illustrated by advanced turbopump layouts. Profiting from the advantages of compact design in cryogenic environments, the designs show considerable improvements in engine life, performances, and reliability. However, these conclusions should still be tempered by high recurrent costs, mainly due to the space-rated electronics. Development work focused on this point and evolution of electronics show the possibility to decrease production costs by an order of magnitude.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Magnetic bearings: A key technology for advanced rocket engines?


    Contributors:


    Publication date :

    1992-05-01


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English





    Man-operated advanced rocket engines

    KLUGER, P. / WILSON, J. | AIAA | 1965


    Bearings and Dampers for Advanced Jet Engines

    Brown, Paul F. | SAE Technical Papers | 1970



    Rocket Engines

    K. Bi-Tien | NTIS | 1976